To keep the momentum of education going, institutions have announced the continuation of online classes. The schools, colleges, and universities conduct online classes in a variety of ways. Like-
- sharing recorded video lectures
- conducting webinars
- facilitating live classes.
But the transition of the institutions from physical to virtual classrooms without facing some challenges.
According to the Business Standard,
“Many feel that online education is not as easy as speaking into the microphone at one end, and connecting a laptop or phone and listening in on the other. There are other challenges with this form of education which are faced at both ends of the spectrum — students as well as faculty.”
Virtual classroom platforms help educational institutions transition from physical classrooms to virtual classrooms. The software solutions develop these tools to enable students and teachers to communicate, interact, and collaborate in virtual learning environments.
So, your institution can opt for the cloud-based virtual classroom without escalating upfront or ongoing IT cost. To set up online learning environments.
Also, you get the virtual classrooms customized to the precise learning needs and goals of your institution. You may choose from many open-source and proprietary virtual classroom software solutions.
So that your educational institution can continue online classes seamlessly. It is possible by investing in the right virtual classroom platform.
There are many reasons why your educational institution should adopt a cloud-based virtual classroom platform (VCP) in 2021. Let’s have a look at them.
Why Should Your Educational Institution Adopt a Virtual Classroom Platform in 2021?
Facilitate Real-Time Collaboration
The absence of face-to-face interaction often makes virtual classrooms appear robotic. The VCPs help you to transform online learning environments by facilitating real-time interaction and collaboration. The virtual classroom software allows students to interact and collaborate using many options like – instant chats, file sharing, virtual meetings, and whiteboards.
Hence, your educational institution can emulate a real-time learning environment while allowing students to learn from home safely.
Add Human Touch to Online Learning
Often lack of human touch is cited as one of the shortcomings of online education.
However, there is more upside to it-
- You can leverage a VCP to make online learning more engaging and impactful by adding a human touch.
- The VCP will enable students to learn at their own pace by accessing digital content in various formats and languages.
- And the students also have the option to attend online classes regularly and interact with teachers seamlessly.
Make e-learning More Student-Centric
Many educational institutions conduct online classes by sharing pre-recorded videos. The pre-recorded videos often make online learning and virtual classes more teacher-centric. The students find it challenging to understand concepts. Neither do they retain knowledge due to a lack of options to ask questions, clear doubts, and participate in discussions. The interactive tools provided by VCP help you to implement student-centered e-learning.
Provide Multi-Format Digital Content Access
In a conventional classroom, teachers often do not provide students with a variety of digital content. But the VCPs bridge the gap between self-paced learning and instructor-led learning. Along with attending online classes, the students can leverage the virtual classroom software to access ebooks, documents, presentations, audio, video clips, and infographics. Hence, a student can acquire knowledge by accessing digital content according to his learning style and preferences.
Anytime and Anywhere Access to Coursework
Students can access the new-age VCPs on a variety of devices – laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets. Hence, they can access the digital content and coursework over the internet using their preferred devices. Also, VCPs enable students to access the coursework anytime and anywhere. The unrestricted access helps students to review topics and revise concepts after attending online classes.
Visualize Learning Experience
Several studies have highlighted how educational institutions improve the learning experience and promote knowledge retention using data visualization techniques. VCPs help your educational institution to leverage data visualization in learning. You can make it easier for students to remember the concepts by presenting data and information visually. Images, graphs, charts, infographics, and mindmaps in the virtual learning environment help achieve this goal.
Immediate and Real-Time Feedback
In a conventional learning environment, teachers need adequate time to review assignments and evaluate answer sheets. Hence, they cannot provide feedback to students in a few hours. But the robust virtual classroom software solutions come with built-in evaluation systems. The teachers can leverage the evaluation system to evaluate students’ progress by conducting online tests and quizzes. Also, they can make students submit assignments and answer papers using online file-sharing options.
Automate Routine Administrative Tasks
The VCPs help teachers to focus on improving the learning experience and managing classes efficiently through the automation of routine administrative tasks like attendance and notification delivery. They also have the option to generate reports based on real-time learner data without putting in extra time and effort. Some of the new-age VCPs further use advanced analytics to help teachers assess and improve the performance of individual learners.
Customization and Integration
You can customize the cloud-based virtual classroom software solutions according to your organization’s precise e-learning strategies and needs. Also, you can integrate the cloud-based software solution seamlessly with widely used e-learning tools like learning management systems (LMSs) and digital libraries. Also, some of these VCPs can be integrated with popular e-commerce platforms. Hence, your educational institution can leverage various e-commerce solutions to generate revenue by recorded video lectures and webinars over the internet.
Emulate Traditional Classrooms
Many VCPs these days come with digital whiteboards. The teachers can use the interactive whiteboard just like a conventional marker board or flip chart. The whiteboard makes it easier for teachers to share documents, highlight important points, record learners’ comments, and write exercise instructions. Your educational institution can opt for a VCP with a built-in whiteboard to make the virtual classroom look and feel like conventional classrooms.
Hone Digital and Soft Skills
The educational institutions must focus on preparing students to achieve professional success in a knowledge economy by leveraging new-generation digital skills. Both teachers and students do not need any technical skills to access the virtual classroom solutions. But they can hone their digital skills by using a slew of interactive tools regularly. Access to widely used interactive tools will prepare students to function in a work environment confidently and efficiently in the future.
Curtail Online Education Costs
The VCP helps your educational institution to earn recurring income by switching to online learning and continuing online classes. Also, the software solutions help you to make online education affordable to many students by curtailing the operational expenses related to conventional classrooms. Your educational institutions can attract more students by complementing teacher-led training with self-paced and digital learning. Also, you can leverage the interactive tools provided by VCPs to leverage the cost benefits of online learning and remote learning without sacrificing the quality of online education.
The Role of Mintbook in this Transition
Mintbook helps educational institutions to shift to online learning and continue online classes by launching a robust virtual classroom platform. In addition to coming with many interactive tools, the cloud-based virtual classroom platform can be integrated seamlessly with LMSs and digital libraries. That is why; your educational institution can leverage the VCP to continue online classes, along with bridging the gap between instructor-led and self-paced learning methods.
